Wedding Registries for Liveaboards

Registries are magical accounts where you can choose mountains of gifts that you wish to receive for your wedding.  Normal registry items consist of fancy dining ware, crystal, wine glasses, vacuums, and endless amounts of household appliances.  This is all well and good…if you live in a house.  The registry of a live-aboard is a tricky thing to create.  I had to completely alter my thought process to include plastic instead of glass and anything that happens to come with a compactable capacity.  I managed to do a pretty fine job of it in the end, and we ended up with a wide variety of handy boat-friendly options.  I’m going to list some of the things we are most happy with. 

1.       The Fruit Hammock

a.       This is a FANTASTIC way to store fruit and vegitables that don’t need refrigeration such as apples, bananas, oranges, avocados, and onions.  This item is inexpensive, so it was a perfect gift option for my college friends who are still trying to begin their careers.  The hammock hangs completely out of the way on the nobs that open our porthole where it is accessible from the galley.  It expands to fit tons of food that simply swings back and forth during wakes and storms instead of rolling all over the counter.    

2.       Solar powered Inflatable floating lanterns

a.       These are a beautiful invention.  They store easily and when we are underway we simply flip them over so that the little solar panel on the bottom faces the sun.  When night falls and we wish to read or dine outside, we blow them up and place or hang them around the boat.  If they fall overboard they are easily recovered since they float and they come with three light settings including a flashing red SOS.  Herby takes one with him on the dingy when he rows Morty ashore so that I and other boats can see him.  We registered for and received 8 of them!

3.       Two-Person Hammock

a.       If you don’t already have a hammock on your boat, you’re doing it wrong.  There is nothing more peaceful than being in a hammock as it gently swings you with each subtle movement of the boat.  Herby and I like to relax in our double hammock while I read to him in the evenings.  It even closes up above us to keep out the bugs, and when it gets dark, I use a solar lantern to see!

4.       Flexible Wine Glasses

a.       We have broken all but two of the original glasses Herby had on the boat when I moved in.  They fall in the sink during wakes, they clink together in storage, and they slide off the table when bumped, which happens a lot since there isn’t a lot of space to move around the salon table.  I registered for two types of wine glasses, therefore, that give off a classy appearance while remaining nearly indestructible.  Govino is a company that makes adorable Plexiglas wine glasses that flex in your hand and include a handy dimple for your thumb.  We have received tons of compliments on them while entertaining.  They are super light and make absolutely no sound when they bump together on the shelf.  I also registered for high quality plastic stacking wine glasses because they stacked so beautifully I couldn’t resist. 

5.       Britta Filter

a.       The Britta filter has become our best friend.  The water that stores in our tanks comes out of the faucets tasting terrible.  We previously fought this issue with tons of water bottles which was incredibly wasteful and costly.  Once our tank water flows through the Britta, it tastes completely normal!  We simply keep the filter in one half of our divided sink so that it doesn’t knock over.  We drink so much water there is no need for refrigeration.  We simply fill it with as much as we plan to drink at that time.     

6.        Stand-up Paddle Board

a.       Stand-up paddle boarding is both super fun and quite useful.  If you are cruising or living aboard, I highly recommend getting an inflatable paddle board.  It stores very easily and does not take much effort to inflate.  It’s a fun way of exploring new areas if you are anchored in a protected creek and it serves as a quick and easy way to get your dog to shore if he is small and has a low center of gravity like Morty! 

So there you have it: six awesome and smart registry items for live-aboards.  We are so very happy with our decisions!!  

Keel Designs

When searching for your dream liveaboard sailboat, the variety of keels may raise some questions as to which one is the best?

The truth is, they are all good and bad at the same time. You have to find one that fits your needs and demands, and has drawbacks that you are willing to accept or don't bother you.

In general, keels are either fin or full. Within these two broad categories are a multitude of variations, but in general, they fall into these two camps.

Fin keels are characterized by their long, high aspect ratio projections from the bottom of the hull. They provide greater performance and less drag, but they are not as strong as a full keel. The hulls have a shallower bilge which results in less wetted surface area, all leading to greater performance.

Full keels are characterized by their low aspect ratio projections, running the length of the hull. They provide less performance, more drag, and add lots of weight to the yacht. This may sound like a horrible keel choice, but it does have two strong characteristics. It is strong and it creates a nice slick to windward when hove to.

Full keels offer a greater area of attachment to the hull and spread the forces from the keel over more of the hull. This very strong attachment to the hull resists breaking under normal and extraordinary conditions. 

Normal loads on the hull-keel joint are experienced when the yacht heels over and the keel acts as a lever arm with the ballast at the end. This load is torquing on the hull, trying to turn the hull back to a vertical orientation. A full keel will spread this force out over a greater area and lead to less stress cracking in the hull at this junction.

Extraordinary loads occur when a yacht is grounded. When the keel smashes into the seabed, all that force is transmitted to the hull via the hull-keel junction. Spreading this massive force over a larger surface area decreases the pressure at this junction and reduces the risk of damaging the yachts hull. This means that a full keel boat will survive coming in contact with the bottom with less risk of damage or holing. 

A full keel provides more drag through the water when hove to and sliding sideways. This added drag will lead to a slower rate of drift and provide a very disturbed slick to windward which will calm the approaching seas from breaking waves into rolling waves. 

The negative attributes of a full keel is the increase in wetted surface area adds lots of resistance which leads to slower sailing speeds. A low aspect ratio of the keel is simply less effective at producing lift when compared to a keel of the same surface area that is high aspect ratio. This is why racing yachts all have very deep fin keels.

If performance is your top priority, a fin keel will be your desired keel platform. If you want a bit more forgiveness with exploring new waters and will be satisfied with a slower boat, a full keel will be a great platform to look into.

Water Tank Plumbing

Where the tank connects to your plumbing is a topic for discussion as the two choices have alternate attributes. The plumbing can either connect at the top of the tank or at the bottom of the tank. 

If the plumbing connects at the top of the tank, a hose or pipe will need to be led down to the bottom of the tank and the tanks will drain via siphon. Water being drawn from the tank will flow up the hose and into the boats plumbing. When multiple tanks are connected to the plumbing in a system, they all depend on having a siphon to drain them properly. If an air lock forms in any of the tanks feed tube, that tanks water line will need to be primed to allow it to feed properly. 

This may seem rather inconvenient, but there is a reason to connect the plumbing at the top of the tank. If the plumbing were to slip off of the tanks boss, the water in the tank will not drain out. Instead, nothing will happen and your fresh water will remain inside your tank awaiting your use. You can either reconnect the plumbing to the tank or remove water through the tanks top access. Either way, your water will remain safe and stored until you are ready to get the water out.

The alternate option is to connect the plumbing to the bottom of the tank. This may seem the most logical as water will drain out of the boss and into the plumbing, never suffering form air locks or other related issues. If your pump stops working, water can still be removed by opening a drain lower than the tank and letting gravity do the rest! 

While this may seem the most logical, it is also plagued by a serious problem. Should the plumbing slip off the boss, the tank will empty its contents and the fresh water will become lost to the bilge. If you loose all your water while out at sea and have no method to replenish your stores once repairs are completed, you will be in serious trouble!

While it may seem trivial, the security of your water is worth the headache of dealing with air locks and the need to prime water lines associated with a top connecting tank. Be sure that the tank has a large viewing port on the top that will allow you to fit a pump or hose into the top to withdraw its contents should your plumbing system fail. 

Buying Foulies

We originally thought that Maddie wouldn't need foulies because she doesn't have to work in foul weather, I get to do that! When we are hit by a storm, I'm the one that goes forward to secure the headsails and set the reefs, I'm also the one who is at the helm as we heave to. I take the winds and the rains, which is why I have my foulies.

Maddie gets to hide under the dodger, protected from the wind and waves, where she can keep an eye on me while I work. If I were to need help, she would quickly jump to the task, but I usually don't so she can stay where it is very safe and very dry. In the interest of conserving our funds, we elected not to purchase foulies for Maddie.

Then we got caught in a gale out in the Chesapeake Bay with heavy rains which were being blown sideways by the intense winds. Maddie was safely tucked away behind the dodger, but the torrential rains crept right in Maddie got completely soaked. Meanwhile, I was getting rained on and staying completely dry with my foulies on. 

You might be wondering what is so bad with getting a little wet, you are on a boat after all? Yes, people use boats to go out on the water and then go swimming, where they get completely soaked. The difference lies with the conditions when the wetting occurs: wet from swimming occurs when you want it and for as long as you want it to, wet from foul weather occurs when it happens and for as long as it will occur for.

You will probably choose to go swimming when the sun is shining and the air is warm. Getting wet will actually cool you off and keep you comfortable. Foul weather is rarely this enjoyable. The sun is blocked out by the storm clouds and a chilling air will come over the water. Instantly, you will begin to feel cold and the storm hasn't even hit yet. The cold rain will pour down on you and the strong winds will cause you to cool even more as your wet skin attempts to evaporate the surface water. 

When you are swimming and begin to feel cold, you can simply climb out of the water and get back on the boat to warm up! In a storm, you have no control over how long the weather will last for. You might begin to feel really cold in the beginning and soon begin to shiver, but the storm will continue for hours as you miserably await the end.

Enter the Foulies! Foul weather gear's main purpose is to keep you dry. If you can stay dry you can also keep warm and comfortable. The ability to keep dry transforms the frigid rain from a discomfort to a nuisance that you have to wait out. As soon as the storm passes, you can shed your foulies and continue on while keeping completely dry and warm during the whole ordeal.

We bought bib-shorts and a jacket for Maddie at the boat show, taking advantage of the great discounts. The vendors will also bring the price down a bit further if you are paying in cash! 

Maddie's foulies are not as robust as mine, but at the same time she will not be exposed to the same severity of weather as I am. It's not that I don't trust Maddie to carry out the tasks that I perform, but instead that I don't want to put her in that risk. 

Going forward during bad weather is not a cake walk. The seas are throwing the boat around and the full force of the wind is hitting you. In really severe weather, waves can actually break over the deck and the force of the water can sweep you off your feet! This is why it is terribly important to clip in to the jacklines when going forward! I have everything rigged at the mast, so I usually only need to go as far as the mast during heavy weather. Standing on the cabin top while tucking in a late reef in large seas and high winds can be very challenging. The motion of the boat is accentuated since you are standing higher up and you can feel a little uneasy in these settings. I stand on the high side (windward side) of the deck so if I fall, I can catch myself on the mast or hang on the leeward lifelines when my tether stops me (which is clipped to the windward jackline). To sum it up, it is not fun and I don't want to put Maddie in this situation if I am able to do it for her.

Therefore, originally only I had foul weather gear since she could hide behind the dodger. Once we found that she could get very wet and cold in her hiding place, we decided to purchase her some light duty foul weather gear.

Complexity

When selecting a cruising yacht, you might think that bigger is better! Bigger boat means more space which means more room and more comfort, it's a no brainer. The problem is, as the size of the yacht increases, so does the complexity of everything on board.

At the 2016 Annapolis Sailboat Show, I boarded a 70 foot Hylas which the owners had purchased the previous year to go cruising. The owners then became ill and are no longer able to cruise due to health issues.

The yacht is certainly outfitted for ease of handling. All the winches in the cockpit are electronic, meaning you don't need to grind a winch handle but rather just push a button. This makes sail trimming very easy, as you simply need to coordinate which button to push next.

At this point, a 70 foot yacht is sounding pretty good! The yacht is so large it feels like a condominium apartment with sails and a keel! Then you start to look at the little details that begin to shine through. 

The headsails are both roller furling, which keeps the deck clear and makes reducing sail as easy as pushing a button. The thing is these headsails are so big that a regular furling line would not be able to power the furler. Instead, the furlers are powered by hydraulic fluid which is powered by a central hydraulic pump. Should a problem develop in the hydraulic system, a manual winch backup is present at the furler. That is not the place I would want to need to go with that massive headsail flogging around!

The other striking leap in complexity came when I inspected the traveler and mainsheet system. Most travelers have a pulley system that leads to a cam cleat where it is locked off. If you need to adjust the traveler's position, all you need to do is grab the line and pull it in. The traveler can be pulled in by hand with a bit of force, but nothing drastic. On this 70 foot yacht, the traveler has its own dedicated winch!

The winch is a subtle way of telling you that the sail is so large and forceful that you need a winch to adjust the traveler. Now imagine jibing that massive sail in a safe and controlled manner? I'm sure it can be done but it will require a lot of winches and planning to execute in a safe and predictable manner.

While it may seem like a dream to cruise on the biggest yacht possible, keep in mind that the size of the rigging and complexity of the systems increases exponentially with the size of the yacht. As the complexity increases, so does the headache of maintaining all of these systems, as breakdowns will occur and the more you have, the more you have to break.

The moral of the story is go on the smallest comfortable-boat you can and go while you are young and healthy!